November Update

Posted on November 19, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s mid-November now, and we officially had our first hard freeze a few days ago. That meant the end of the frost-tender plants like the peppers and eggplant. I got a modest harvest of them in the days before the freeze though. It was a good year for peppers and eggplant overall, likely because they were planted out later and avoided the spring flooding that wrecked some of the earlier crops.

November eggplant and peppers

I was happy to use the eggplant to make one more lunch of eggplant sandwiches for the year, which is something my wife and I both enjoy eating.

roasted eggplant sandwich on naan bread

The beans did not have a good year, so I was happy to find a few more that set on late in the season. Fortunately we have some from last year left in the freezer, so we should have plenty for soups and side dishes. Hopefully next year will be a better year for them!

last of the beans

The fall planted greens are quite happy with the cooler weather of late, and I made cuttings of both kale and collards in the last couple of weeks. Their taste improves with frost, and they will sometimes survive the winter here if we don’t get much snow or ice. I’ve got quite a bit of both planted, and greens are often on the menu here in the fall and winter months.

Wild Garden mix kale

heirloom collard greens

I’m still harvesting the last of the lettuce I planted in late summer. It has kept us supplied in salads for several months now. I have the winter lettuce planted in the greenhouse, and it should be big enough to start cutting in a few weeks.

red and green crisphead lettuce

Our little persimmon tree still has quite a few left on it, though I will likely have to get on a ladder to get them. I harvested over seven pounds of them in early November, and I have been freezing the puree for later use in persimmon cookies and persimmon bread.

Nikita’s Gift persimmons

I did bake a loaf of no-knead sourdough bread last week.  I proofed it in an oval brotform then baked it in my Breadtopia oblong clay baker. It had a crispy crust and great flavor, and much of it went into the freezer for later use. It’s hard to believe but I have been baking all our breads now for almost 15 years.

crusty sourdough bread

I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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October Update

Posted on October 24, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

I think it’s time for me to share an update on harvests and other things around here. It’s late October now, and lacking any really cold weather our vegetable garden has still been producing for us. I’ve gotten loads of both sweet and hot peppers, plus the occasional eggplant.

pepper harvest

I got the last picking of the pole beans a couple of weeks ago, and those plants are done for. It’s not been a good year for them due to germination issues early on caused by the rainy conditions and wet soil. I got just under 4 pounds total this year, compared to last year’s 11 pounds. We ate on this last batch, and I was able to freeze a few this year as well.

guajillo peppers and pole beans

I’ve been harvesting persimmons from our little tree, and while not really pretty on the outside they are sweet and tasty. Our tree is the Nikita’s Gift variety, which is a cross between an Asian and a native persimmon.

Nikita’s Gift persimmons

My lettuce planting in the cold frame has been keeping up supplied for salads recently. I have a mix of heat tolerant varieties planted, like Tehama, Muir and Cherokee. I harvest these on an as-needed basis.

Tehama lettuce

Cherokee lettuce plants

I mentioned it has been a great year for peppers, and I have gotten a big haul of the guajillo types for drying and turning into chile powder.  I call this one “Dustbowl” because I originally got the seeds in 2015 from a company called Dustbowl Seed which is now out of business. I’ve been growing them ever since, and saving the seeds for replanting. The open pollinated ones have been more productive than a couple of hybrid types I have growing nearby. I also experimented with a couple of chimayo plants this year, and they have not been very productive at all for me here. These is one in the below photo (bottom right), along with the guajillos which are longer and more slender in shape.

guajillo peppers for drying

Last week I baked up a batch of Two-Bean Enchilada Casserole for my lunch one day. It featured my homemade sauce using our frozen tomato sauce and a liberal amount of my homegrown chile powder. The leftovers freeze well and should keep me supplied for a bit.

Two Bean Enchilada Casserole

I have quite a few kale and collard plants I set out for fall and winter use – about 50 in all. These have been growing along nicely, and I have been waiting for the first couple of frosts to come and sweeten up the leaves. The Yellow Cabbage variety is one of my favorites, with large and mild tasting leaves.

Yellow Cabbage collard plant

And in closing, we have hawks visit our property fairly often.  I believe the one in the below photo is a Red-Shouldered Hawk, and we recently have seen it sitting in our mulberry tree out back of the house. It is quite impressive when it takes flight, with a wingspan of almost three feet, and no doubt helps keep the rodent population under control.

hawk in mulberry tree

With frost in the forecast, I dug all the sweet potatoes this week. I’ll give an update soon on how they did this year. Meanwhile, I hope you have enjoyed this update, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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Harvest Monday September 29, 2025

Posted on September 29, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. I got another nice haul of peppers last week, and I started fermenting another jar of the hot ones to make into hot sauce. We have been enjoying the sweet ones as well.

late September harvest

Pick-n-Pop peppers are a ‘snack sized’ pepper and a 2025 AAS Winner. It has done quite well for me this year, and I can see why it was popular with the AAS judges.

Pick-N-Pop peppers

I hasn’t been a great year for the pole beans, but I did get enough to cook up as a side dish plus a few extras for the freezer.

heirloom pole beans

I cut the first of the fall lettuce plantings, a small head of Tehama, to use for our salads. I set out about 30 plants that are sizing up now and should keep us supplied for a bit.

Tehama lettuce

My last harvest of the week was the first of the persimmons. The tree has quite a few on it, though I think the critters are stealing a few of them. they are leaving plenty for us to eat though when they ripen.

Nikita’s Gift persimmon

And speaking of last harvests, it is with a bit of sadness that I announce this will be my last Harvest Monday post. I still plan to post here about my gardening activities and harvests, but not on a weekly basis. I have been hosting Harvest Monday for ten years now, since taking over from Daphne (Daphne’s Dandelions) in October, 2015.  I appreciate all of the gardeners who have joined in, and all those who have read and followed along. Thanks, and happy gardening to all going forward!


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Harvest Monday September 22, 2025

Posted on September 22, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. My wife and I just returned from a getaway to Maine, where we enjoyed the sights in Portland and fought the crowds in Bar Harbor. We ate a lot of good food (like clam chowder and lobster rolls), but it is nice to be home again for sure. We got a bit of rain while we were gone, and the vegetable garden stood up to the hot weather quite nicely. I got a big haul of peppers and a few eggplant when we returned home. I can see me making a batch of sheet pan ratatouille this week for sure.

eggplant and sweet peppers

hot peppers

The Hernandez hot peppers have done quite well for me this year. They are a Fresno type, like Flaming Flare which also does well for me here. I find they have about the same heat level as the jalapenos I grow, but with a tad more flavor perhaps. I’ll make hot sauce with these and the other hot ones I harvested.

Hernandez hot peppers

Before we left for our trip, I harvested some Cherokee lettuce from the greenhouse for our salads. This one colors up nicely for me in both greenhouse and outside plantings, and I have more growing in the beds behind our greenhouse that should be ready soon.

Cherokee lettuce

And I got a small but much appreciated harvest of pawpaws from our modest plantings. This native fruit has a flavor that is often described as tropical, like a mix of banana, mango and pineapple. The texture is soft, like a custard, and I like to to scoop it out with a spoon and eat it for a snack. I am guessing the racoons or opossums got a few of the fruits before I found these two.

pawpaws

And in non-harvest news, we saw several lighthouses while we were in Maine, including the much-photographed Portland Head Lighthouse. It was built in 1791, and is the oldest lighthouse in the state of Maine. I can see why it is so popular with photographers! We had great weather for our trip and enjoyed the cooler temperatures of coastal Maine while it was baking back home in Indiana.

Portland Head Lighthouse

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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Harvest Monday September 15, 2025

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time for Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over celebrate all things harvest related. I managed to find a few more tomatoes last week to go along with the peppers and eggplant that are still producing well. The Cornito peppers have done well for me this year, and Sweetie Pie is another favorited that is producing. The Mad Hatter peppers are classed as a hot pepper, but I find if I remove the seeds and membrane they have no heat. Their flavor is sweet and they are juicy as well.

mid-September harvest

Mad Hatter pepper

I got another cutting of the lettuce I have growing in the greenhouse. This one is Muir, a summer crisp type that does well for me in warmer weather. We used some of the leaves in a wrap we made using flour tortillas as a wrapper.

leaf lettuce

wrap with lettuce

And I got the first pole beans of the season last week. It’s not going to be a good year for them, since I had trouble with seeds rotting in the waterlogged soil. I also got more of the Cornito Giallo sweet peppers, plus a mix of hot ones.

beans and peppers

And once again, ratatouille was on the menu. This time we served it up with some crispy baked fish fillets.

ratatouille with crispy fish

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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